Little Dark One v1
by Kiara Rene Noire
Summary: Kiara always hoped her family would come for her. Little did she know, she was about to get a LOT more than she bargained for! Together with new and old friends, she goes on a journey, hoping her past will help her discover her future. NOT DMGxDM pairing
1. The Dream

Hey! This is my first fanfic ever and I hope people like it! :) Please feel free to review! This is set partially set in the yu-gi-oh world, but mostly in the duel moster world, just so no one gets confused. Everything should get better explained later on in the story.

Summery: Kiara always hoped her family would come back for her. She dreamed to have a family. Little does she know, she is about to get a lot more than she bargained for.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters. I have only based the attitudes and lifestyles off of characters. Those are my own creations.

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**Little Dark One**

Side Note: All of Kiara's thoughts are in italics

Chapter 1: The Dream

Kiara's POV:

"I-I can't," a man said above me.

"Who's there? Where are you?" I called out.

"It's the only way," another man said above me.

I could hear the two men talking, but I couldn't see them. They both sounded pretty worried about something.

"What's going on?" I asked, but I got no response. Apparently, they couldn't hear me.

'_Well, this isn't getting me anywhere,'_ I thought, _'might as well look around.'_

I took a few steps forward from where I stood. I could tell I was standing on a white sandy beach with the clear blue ocean surrounding it. I turned to my left and saw a beautiful woman standing a few yards away. She was probably in her early to mid twenties, wearing a long white, sleeveless sundress that had a white satin belt around the waist. She had slightly tanned skin which complemented her white clothing nicely. She wore a white sunhat, but her long beautiful brown hair still fell to the middle of her back. She was staring out at the ocean with a serene look in her charming green eyes.

Despite the woman and the breath-taking scenery, I couldn't help but be drawn in by the men's conversation.

"They won't come," The first man said as though he was trying to find the right words to say, "they can't come."

"But they are," the second man said. "I came to warn you before it's too late."

"Thank you," the first man replied. "But Natasha and I have decided that we are not going to run anymore. We've done that for too long."

"You're fighting a losing battle, my friend. Just be sure to get them out of here before things get out of hand." the second man said with a somewhat sad calmness.

Suddenly the air felt as though a sudden arctic front surrounded me. In fact, it was so cold that I had to shut my eyes to brace myself for it.

While my eyes were shut, I heard something that I will never forget.

A woman scream…

* * *

Third Person POV:

Kiara woke up in a cold sweat. She knew she had had that dream before, but she could never really get over the shock of it. Kiara didn't know why, but the end of the dream always seemed to scare her, even though in her long twelve years of life, she had never finished the dream. This time was no different.

Kiara sat up on her bed and held the pendant around her neck. It was a golden, heart-shaped locket that had "Kiara" written on it in red cursive letters on the front of it. Holding her locket always made her feel better.

Probably because it was the only thing she had left of her parents. Kiara had a long list of possibilities, but no one seemed to know what happened to them.

Kiara got up from her bed, made it, and changed out of her short pink pajamas and into a light blue T-shirt and jeans. She brushed her long blond hair, which fell about six inches below her shoulder blades, and brushed her teeth and walked out of her room.

She had lived in the Kamia Orphanage for as long as she could remember, all the while trying to get some idea of who her parents were. But no one seemed to know them. The only person Kiara could get any information out of was Mrs. Kamia, the elderly assistant manager of the orphanage, and all she could be out of her was that her son, Taylor, found her on their doorstep, wrapped in a blanket on a stormy night about ten years ago. Kiara was asleep when Taylor found her and no one appeared to be around that might have left this two year old girl there, even though the only reason he had even came out there was because the doorbell had been rung.

Taylor was about six years old at the time and didn't really know much about girls, so he took her to this mother.

Everyone was amazed Kiara was alright because there had been numerous "gang wars" between city gangs at the time and the orphanage was located on the outskirts of a major city near a vast forest where many of the fights took place. Many of the thugs and punks didn't care who or what it was, if something was in their way, they would kill it. Mrs. Kamia begged her husband to let Kiara stay with them as a foster child, at least until the war was over.

"But the police arrested the gang leaders and eventually the war ended about a week after you came to us and nobody came to claim you as their daughter, so my husband let you stay in Anna's room as one of the other children of the orphanage," Mrs. Kamia said softly.

_'After arguing with him for hours,'_ Kiara thought to herself while trying to suppress her giggles. She always asked Mrs. Kamia to tell her the story of how they found her after she had that mysterious dream, hoping maybe there would be some clue to help her crack the mystery.

But Kiara also knew that it must bring up some bad memories for the Kamia family. Anna, who was the exact age as Kiara at the time, was killed in a gang war about a week before Kiara was found and it hit them all pretty hard, especially Taylor. To make matters worse, Kiara looked a lot like Anna; the same blond hair, the same slightly tanned skin, the same height, the same build. The only difference was that Anna had chocolate brown eyes like her father's and Kiara had green eyes. Taylor thought it was kind of creepy and Mr. Kamia avoided Kiara altogether. It wasn't that he didn't like her, he was just still mourning over Anna's death, or at least that's what Mrs. Kamia told her. Kiara had tried to get him to like her, but it never worked, so Kiara eventually gave up.

Kiara was grateful that Mrs. Kamia had told her the story and it did make her feel a little better, but this time Kiara was desperate for answers. She wanted to know why she wound up here and why she was having that weird dream. But it looked like, once again, that wasn't going to happen.

Kiara got up to go wake up the younger kids for breakfast.

"Kiara," Mrs. Kamia said softly.

"Yes ma'am?" Kiara asked, sitting back down.

"Do you still have that necklace that was found with you?" Mrs. Kamia asked.

"Y-yes ma'am," Kiara answered. _'What is she getting at?'_ she thought. _'I have my locket on 99% of the time, including right now.'_

Mrs. Kamia smiled, "good. You may not know it now, but that necklace may hold the key to finding out who you really are. You must protect it, forever."

Now, Kiara was only twelve years old, and didn't really understand what Mrs. Kamia was talking about, but she learned a long time ago that it was better to act as though one did.

"I will Mrs. Kamia. I promise," Kiara vowed and left the room.

"Such a good girl," Mrs. Kamia said to herself when Kiara left.

* * *

Kiara took the little kids to breakfast and then headed back to her own room, since she normally had about two hours to herself before she had to wake up the older kids. Kiara kept tabs on all the kids at the orphanage, since it was obvious that she wouldn't be adopted anytime soon.

It was strange that no one ever wanted to adopt her when she was little, but now that she was older and nearly a teenager, it seemed impossible to her. So now Kiara watched over the kids and gave parents who came to the orphanage her advice on who would be the best candidate for what they were looking for.

Anyway, Kiara headed for her room for a bit of free time. She normally read, drew, or played on the old computer Taylor gave her now that he had bought a new laptop.

Kiara walked down the hallway she and most of the other kids called Dark Hall, because it was always as dark as night. As she walked, Kiara heard a small voice whispering in her ear:

"Kiara…Kiara…come to me…"

Kiara stopped and looked behind her, but there was no one there. Just the permanent darkness of the hallway.

Suddenly, Kiara felt the chills she always felt after she had that dream, only this time, they felt ten times stronger and it was if the very darkness was grabbing and pulling at her.

"Who are you?" Kiara cried to the voice, hugging her shivering arms. "What do you want from me?"

She heard the voice laugh harshly and felt something wrap around her waist and arms. The second it touched her body, the temperature dropped so dramatically, it forced Kiara to shut her eyes tightly. She felt it pull her to the floor so hard that she couldn't move for a few seconds. While she was immobile, Kiara felt whatever was around her waist and arms release her for a second and then heard the voice shout:

"Restrain her!"

Instantly Kiara felt eight medium size hands push her down very roughly. Then she heard the sound of mischievous laughing. Against the freezing temperature and her better judgment, Kiara forced her eyes open, and then wished she hadn't.

Staring back at her was five…creatures! Kiara was a pretty smart girl, thanks to the countless books she had read, internet searches over various topics, and Taylor explaining his homework to her, but she had never come across anything like these things before. They almost looked like the shadows of young men. They had no distinguishing features other than their eerie yellow eyes, the slight outlines of a small pointed nose and a sinister smile on each of their faces. Kiara looked around as best as she could and saw that two of them held her legs down, two others held her arms pinned to the ground, and the fifth one stood over them. They all looked alike, but the one looking over her wore a strange triple layered star medallion over the area where his heart should have been.

Kiara was about to scream when the one with the medallion suddenly grabbed her throat with his right hand. His grip tightened around her throat just enough so that Kiara couldn't talk, but still could breathe…barely. She struggled to break free, but they only held her down harder.

The one with the medallion seemed to be the leader of the group.

"Ha," he murmured. "Stronger creatures than you have fallen to the Shadows before. How could you, a human, ever hope to escape?" The leader began to laugh manically and the others joined in.

Kiara felt a tear roll down her cheek.

The leader saw this as well and chuckled. "Aw, don't cry little one," he said with fake sympathy as he gripped her throat a little tighter, "we'll leave you alone, as soon as we have that necklace." He then reached for Kiara's locket with his free hand.

"NO!" Kiara screamed as loud as she could. Suddenly, Kiara felt warmth on her back and a blinding light made her close her eyes again.

While her eyes were shut, Kiara heard the leader stop laughing and gasp.

"What?! No! Stop! This is impossible!" he creamed and faded away along with the others.

The light faded away and Kiara felt completely zapped of all her energy and fainted.

* * *

"…ia…a…Ki…ra…"

Kiara groaned.

"Kiara! Kiara! Wake up!"

Kiara opened her eyes to see a young boy with blue eyes and short brown hair. He wore a long sleeve yellow shirt with a blue vest and blue jeans. He was sitting, hunched over her, in the hallway, eyes full of concern.

Kiara rubbed her head, "Ow…Seto? What happened?"

Seto was a twelve year old boy who came to the orphanage with his seven year old little brother, Mokuba, about two months ago. Seto loved playing games like chess and other strategy games. He especially liked this card game called "Duel Monsters" that came out a few years ago. Two players, known as "duelist" faced each other using card monsters to lower their opponent's life points and win the duel. It was pretty popular game and Seto and Kiara both had decks and faced off against each other a lot. Seto was pretty good and that kept the older kids from picking on Mokuba. Seto and Kiara became fast friends and could trust each other with pretty much anything.

"You passed out! Are you alright?!" Seto asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Kiara replied weakly, "was there anyone else here when you found me?"

"Huh?" Seto shook his head, "no, you were the only one here. Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Kiara said as she got up. "I had that dream again and I guess it's beginning to get to me."

Seto got up too and the two of them walked down the hall. "The one with the two guys and the woman at the beach?" he asked. "Did you get to see the end this time?

Kiara shook her head. "Same dream and I still didn't get to finish it." Kiara sighed, "Seto, you know how I told you the first time I had that dream, it felt like I was cut off from seeing the rest?"

Seto nodded, not sure exactly where this was going.

"Well," Kiara continued, "this is going to sound crazy and don't laugh, but I think someone _is_ trying to cut me off from the dream."

Seto busted out laughing and Kiara punched him hard in the shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Seto shouted as he rubbed his shoulder.

Kiara chuckled, "well, I told you not to laugh, so it's your own fault. Maybe next time you'll listen to me."

Seto rolled his eyes and smiled. "Well, think about it, Kiara. How can someone cut you off from a dream? It just doesn't make sense."

Kiara frowned, "I know it doesn't, but it feels like that's what's happening to me."

Seto sensed her doubt and tried to cheer her up.

"Well," he said, trying to sound convincing, "what makes you think that?"

"Okay," Kiara said as she stopped walking and leaned against the wall, "when I'm asleep, I get these chills that crawl up my back and then I wake up in a cold sweat."

Seto stopped and leaned against the wall opposite Kiara, "Sounds like regular nightmare symptoms to me."

"Yeah," Kiara continued, "but lately I've been having these feelings while I'm awake. Mostly when I'm in Dark Hall, the hallway she was in earlier, or when my body gets weak. Then I get really tired and usually go to sleep for most of the day."

Seto nodded.

"And…," Kiara started again, "…uh, nevermind."

Seto looked up at her, "What is it?"

"Just something Mrs. Kamia said earlier today. Something about finding out who I am and how this," she said holding out her locket, "may help."

"That thing?" Seto asked looking as though he was trying to conceal a laugh again, "finding out who you are? Man, the weirdest stuff happens to you."

"Yeah, I guess," Kiara said, shrugging off her doubt. She checked her watch on her wrist. "Ah, crap! I'm gonna be late! I gotta go get the kids," she said as she ran to the older kids' buildings. "See ya later, Seto! Say hi to Mokie for me!"

"Alright, later Kiara," Seto shouted as he headed back to his room.

* * *

Somewhere, far away from the orphanage, a lone figure was watching Kiara running through the smoke in a large crystal ball. As the image of the girl became clearer, a sinister grin began to cross the figure's veiled face. The figure looked at an old crumpled list in his hand.

"Blond hair, green eyes, slight tanned skin, petit build, and a golden heart-shaped locket," he listed facts off his list. He looked back to the image of the girl in the crystal ball and his wicked grin became complete.

Behind him, a door opened and a teenage boy, about sixteen or seventeen years old, rushed inside and bowed to the figure. He had almond-shaped blue eyes, cream colored skin, and very short, wavy, thick umber colored hair worn in an uncomplicated style. He had a broad-shouldered, yet slim build. He wore an outfit that looks like a fusion of a sorcerer's robes and a schoolboy's outfit with a black and dark navy blue color scheme.

"Master, the eastern and southern fleets have reported in and there is still no sign of the target. Should we send more forces to the northern and western areas?" the boy asked.

"No, Zachary, I don't think that will be necessary." The figure said, raising a hand to allow the boy to stand. "In fact, you can go ahead and abort all search parties."

Zachary was stunned by this. "Master," he asked, standing up, "if I may ask, why we are canceling the searches now after so long? Has the target been found?"

"I believe so, Zachary. I believe so," the figure chuckled.

The figure held up his hand. Black flames surrounded his hand for a second and dispersed a second later. In his hand, the figure held a card with Kiara's picture on it. The figure stood up and turned to face Zachary.

"Here," the figure said, handing him the card, "I want you to go to the location that the western scouts were sent to observe and find this girl. You are to bring her here, by any force necessary beyond seriously hurting her."

Zachary took the card. "Her name is Kiara," the figure continued. "According to my scouts who have been patrolling that area, she would do anything to prevent harm from befalling others. I think you can use that to your advantage."

Zachary studied the picture. "Understood, Master." He bowed again before pulling the hood of his black cloak over his head, hiding his face. He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a cloud of shadows.

* * *

**Later that night**

It was nearly midnight, and while everyone else slept soundly in their beds, Kiara was tossing and turning in her sleep from yet another nightmare.

In this nightmare, Kiara was all alone and all she could see was endless darkness. However, she could hear someone, a woman, crying out for help:

"Help! Someone…anyone…please help us!"

"I'm coming! Where are you?" Kiara cried as she ran deeper into the shadows, following the voice. Again, she felt the darkness grabbing at her, but she kept running. _'Who could this woman be?' _Kiara thought to herself as she ran._ 'And where the heck are we?' _

Just after she thought that, Kiara heard something that, to this day, still sends chills down her back:

"AH! NO!" the woman screamed. "Please don't take her! I beg you, don't take her!"

Kiara stopped dead in her tracks. The cold touch of the shadows finally caught up and nearly consumed her, but Kiara hardly paid any attention to them at all. For she then heard something that sounded like a sword slicing through a person's flesh, followed by a painful shriek and someone laughing hysterically. The room grew darker and colder as the laughter grew louder…

* * *

Kiara woke up with a start in her room, panting and heart pounding. "That was all just a dream?" she asked herself as she rubbed her head with her hand, "but it felt so…real." Kiara sat up in her bed and hugged her knees to her chest. "What's going on?" she whined tiredly, "why is all of this happening?"

//creek//

Kiara looked up and saw that the window in front of her bed had opened by itself. _'That's weird,' _she thought, getting up from her bed. It was then that she realized that she was still wearing her T-shirt and jeans from earlier that day. _'Oops, guess I fell asleep in my day clothes again,' _Kiara thought, chuckling softly at herself. _'That's the third time this week. Oh well.' _She then walked over to the open window. _'How did this open by itself?'_ Kiara stuck her head out the window and looked around, but there was no one there. _'No one outside and there's barely any wind tonight. This just doesn't make any sense.' _Kiara reached out and pulled the window back into place. _'Oh well, I'll figure it out in the morning,'_ she thought as she latched the window so that it wouldn't open yawned and laid back down into her bed. She fell sound asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Kiara never heard the thin blade slide between the wooden window plains and unlatch the latch that locked the windows together.

Suddenly a huge blast of ice cold wind blew the windows in. Kiara woke up again, but before she knew what was going on, she was being held in the arms of a young man in a black hooded cloak that she'd never met before. His hood obscured his face. He held a hand over Kiara's mouth to suppress her screams.

"Don't try anything, girl," he whispered harshly. "Just cooperate and I won't send the Shadows to destroy everyone in this pitiful place."

Kiara stopped struggling at once. _'Oh god! What the heck?!'_

The young man then jumped out of the window in front of Kiara's bed that he had come through, taking Kiara along for the ride.

* * *

That's all I've got right now. Please REVIEW! You're comments and suggestions are always welcome! :D


	2. Kidnapped

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters. I have only based the attitudes and lifestyles off of characters. Those are my own creations.

Chapter 2: Kidnapped

They were a few miles from the orphanage before the young man stopped in a small clearing in the forest to rest. The full moon shined brightly, casting a luminous glow within the clearing. He took his hand away from Kiara's mouth.

"Hey!" Kiara shouted angrily, scrambling to get out of his arms. "What's the big idea?! Why did you take me away?!"

"Take you away from what?" the hooded man chuckled, "you are an orphan with no place to call home." He then dropped Kiara onto the cold, hard ground and walked away casually, staring at the moon.

"Ow," Kiara quietly whined, rubbing her backside, which is where the teen had so rudely dropped her on. _'What is going on?'_

"But I wouldn't worry about it if I were you," the boy continued, not bothering to look back at her. "My master has been searching for you for the past ten years and I'm positive that he will welcome you with open arms."

"Uh, huh," Kiara scoffed as she stood up. "Well I don't think kidnapping makes a person feel very welcome. _And_ I may not have a home, but the people back at the orphanage care about me and will call the police. Then you and your "master" will be in big trouble!"

The hooded teenager just laughed hysterically, as though she had just told him some hilarious joke. "Heh heh, well that's why I must take you somewhere no human would ever think to look."

Then something very weird happened. The boy muttered something under his breath, something that sounded like some old foreign language. And then it looked like black fire was enveloping him, and after a while, Kiara couldn't see the boy at all. After that, it all just…disappeared.

Kiara looked all around her, "Hey! Where are you?!"

She didn't see the same black fire and the hooded boy reappear behind her. He quickly caught her arms and bound them behind her back and, before she knew what was going on, he had knocked her unconscious. Then he held up his left hand and an odd black portal opened. He picked up the unconscious girl and stepped through the portal.

________________________________________________________________

By the time Kiara finally came to, she found herself in some strange place filled with darkness.

"Oh no!" she said out loud. "This place looks just like the one in my nightmare!"

"No," a voice said to her far right. She looked to the source and saw the same teenager who had brought her here. She tried to move away from him, but found herself chained to a large pillar behind her. She struggled and tried to get loose, but it was no use.

The boy walked over and stood in front of her, "This is the place where your nightmares were born!"

"Now now, Zachary," another voice called out, as a door creaked open. "Let's not scare her."

"What are you talking about?" Kiara demanded trying to look at the new person, trying to sound brave. "Who are you?" She looked towards the source of the voice and saw a shadow on the ground getting closer and closer to her. Before long, a man with a black cloak stood before her. He wore the hood of his cloak over his head so that his face was hidden from her view.

"Good evening, my dear," the man said, bowing slightly before her.

Kiara scowled at the man. "Look! I don't know what the heck you're talking about, but you all better start answering my questions!" she demanded, struggling against her chains.

The man laughed, "Hahaha! My my, what a feisty one you are! Okay, fine. I'll answer your questions. But first, we haven't been properly introduced." He then pulled his hood back to reveal himself. He stood about 6' 2" and had shoulder length shaggish rust-brown hair, pale skin, and dark brown eyes that looked like they had traces of violet within them. "My name is Hexor Haile."

Kiara stared at him, "Okay…should I know you or something?"

Hexor laughed again, "Heheheh, no I suppose you wouldn't know who I am. This is the first time we have met face to face, little Kiara."

"Whoa," Kiara exclaimed. "Wait! How do you know my name?!"

Hexor sneered, "Well, as I'm sure my servant, Zachary has told you, we have searching for you for the past ten years." He began to circle the pillar she was chained to. Kiara tried her best to keep him in her sight. "You have been clever in avoiding our searches for this long. Whoever decided to hide you in the human realm definitely knew what they were doing."

"Then again," he continued, "your father was always a great strategist. He was always…."

"Wait! What?!" Kiara interrupted. "My father hid me?!?

Hexor chuckled, "Indeed he did. But now that bastard is going to pay for that."

"Are you saying that my father is….alive?" Kiara asked, completely shocked.

Hexor ginned as he walked in front of her again. "Oh very much so, not that you may see him much, heheh."

Kiara gasped sharply, "What?! What do you mean I 'may not to get to see him much'? Is he….coming here?"

Hexor smirked, "Yes, he is coming to 'save' you, but…."

Suddenly, a large grandfather clock along the wall loudly chimed 11 o'clock.

"Well my dear, I hate to do this but I'm afraid we need you to be unable to interfere with our plans for about another hour, so I bid you pleasant dreams," Hexor said as he held out his right hand in front of Kiara. His eyes began to glow violet.

Instantly the terrible chills she always got when she had her unfinished dream. Only they were as strong as they had been in Dark Hall when she was attacked. Kiara felt extremely weak and tired.

"But," she groaned, "Who…is…he?"

Then Kiara fainted, her body slumped against the pillar and the chains held her in place.

"Hmph," Hexor expressed as he turned back to Zachary. "Well, that didn't take that much effort. Zachary, take her to the western tower and stay with her. If she wakes up or if anyone tries to wake her, you are to inform me at once."

"Yes, Master," Zachary replied with a hint of frustration in his voice.

Then Hexor teleported himself back to his study and looked into his crystal ball. He waved his hand over it and the smoke cleared to reveal a clearing in the forest.

"Our class reunion will begin soon."

________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, in a small clearing in the forest that surrounded the fortress.

"Di," a woman's voice said calmly as she approached a man with shoulder length dark hair. "It's about 11. We should get moving."

"You're right, Kaylee," the man, Di, said as he got up. "Is Skylar awake?"

"I'm here," another man said as he was putting out a campfire. Di and Kaylee walked over to him. "So you're sure it was her that you sensed?" Skylar asked Di.

"Yes, it has to be her," Di said in a calm but anxious voice. "I don't know who else it could be."

"I can't believe after all these years, they have actually found her," Kaylee said sadly.

"Well, believe it sister," Skylar said, "They did."

Kaylee rolled her eyes and then turned to Di. "So," she said, "what's the plan?"

Di looked up to the full moon. "No clue."

"What?!" both Kaylee and Skylar nearly shouted. Di never didn't have a plan.

"I had hoped that they wouldn't find her this soon, I always thought I would break first," Di sighed.

Kaylee nudged Skylar in the arm. "You go on and scout up ahead," she whispered, "I'll talk to him."

"Alright," Skylar replied, taking off ahead of the pack.

Kaylee walked over to her friend. "Di, I know you better than anyone and I can tell when something is weighing on your mind, so what is it?"

Di sighed and Kaylee could hear the stress in his voice. "What am I going to say to her whenever we find her? 'Hello, my name is Di and I'm your father'? How do you think she is going to take that?"

"Di," Kaylee said calmly. "It was too dangerous for you to keep her here. I'm sure that once she knows the whole situation, Kiara will just be thrilled to be home."

Di looked at her with a small glimmer of hope in his royal blue eyes, "You think so?"

Kaylee smiled. "I know so, trust me, Demitri."

"Kaylee," Di said, holding up his hand in the shush gesture and looked around to make sure no one heard her; "you know I don't go by that name anymore."

"We all have things in our pasts that we aren't proud of," Kaylee said sadly.

"Not like this."

"Di," Kaylee said tranquilly. "Look at me."

Di did as he was told and looked into his friend's deep green eyes.

Kaylee suddenly grabbed his face and held his gaze. "Everything is going to be okay. Relax!!!"

"Kaylee," Di said kindly, "let go of my face."

Kaylee obliged and smiled innocently.

Di sighed, "I know you're right. I'm just worried. What if she doesn't want to have anything to do with me? Not that I would blame her."

"Look, take it from someone who knows," Kaylee said, "the only thing a little girl really truly ever wants is just to be home, surrounded by people that she loves and love her."

"Hey! If we are gonna do this thing we better do it now!" Skylar's voice rang through the forest impatiently.

"He's right, we need to get moving," Di said as he and Kaylee both took off in the direction Skylar had ran earlier.

Before long, the group arrived at the outer wall of Hexor's fortress. Skylar had already circled the fortress.

"Only one entrance," Skylar reported. "The front gate and it's guarded by three shadow knights."

"Not as bad as I thought it would be," Di said as he took out his scepter. "I'll fly over the wall and take out the knights. You two stay here and wait for me to raise the gate."

"Will do chief," Skylar called back.

Di tossed his scepter into the air and it hovered there in mid air. He jumped on top of it, expertly finding his balance and took to the air. He quickly flew over the wall with ease. Once he was a safe distance from the ground, Di jumped off his staff and landed gracefully on the ground below. Di stealthy crept along the wall until he spotted the three shadow knights Skylar had told him about.

_'Strange,'_ Di thought as he watched the knights. _'Why would Hexor only assign three knights to guard the only entrance? Does he even realize what he has?'_

Di continued to sneak along the wall until he was in striking range of the knights. Before the knights even had a chance to raise the alarm, Di had completely incinerated them with his dark magic.

Di ran into the control tower and raised the gate and met up with Skylar and Kaylee.

"Ten minutes," Skylar commented. "Not bad DM, but not your best time."

"Oh, shut up, CG," Di said smacking him playfully on the back of the head.

"Enough, you two," Kaylee whispered. "We need to keep moving!"

"Right, let's go!" Di commanded, leading the group inside the castle.

Once everyone was inside the castle, they ran quickly and quietly down the hallway. Eventually, they came to a three-way fork in the hall. The group skid to a stop.

"Okay," Di said, analyzing the situation. "I figured we would have to split up eventually. Who wants to go where?"

"Which ever one doesn't get us killed," Skylar chuckled.

"Sky, not now," Kaylee scolded.

Skylar shrugged, chuckling a little. "What?"

_'Good old Skylar, always the joker,' _Di thought as he closed his eyes and shook his head, smiling slightly. "I'm taking the center hall."

"Alright, then I'll take the left," Kaylee said.

"I guess that leaves me with the right," Skylar said a tad cockily.

"Okay, if anyone finds her, contact me immediately," Di ordered.

"Gotcha!" Kaylee and Skylar said at the same time, one of their weird twin freak-outs that they liked to pull on people. Then they all went their separate ways.

Hey, hope you like it! Please Review! And I tried to catch my spelling errors but if I missed any, my bad :P


	3. Divided Forces

­Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters. I have only based the attitudes and lifestyles off of characters. Those are my own creations.

Chapter 3: Divided Forces

Time: 11:18 p.m.

Di roamed the hall, careful not to reveal his position to Hexor. He checked every along the hallway, but he couldn't find Kiara….or anyone for that matter. He hoped Kaylee and Skylar were having better luck than he was

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Kaylee had luck, just not good luck. When they had all split up, the hallway she took seemed just as empty and safe as the other two. Kaylee saw now that she was dead wrong. She was fighting off what felt like twenty fiends all at once. She was almost as strong as Di, but she couldn't handle this many fiends at once. She ran down the hallway as fast as she could. She found an open door and rushed into the room. The monsters chasing her stayed hot on her trail. Kaylee barricaded the door, but the monsters barged into the door with such force that they nearly knocked her off her feet.

Kaylee cast a quick locking spell on the door and stood back and listened to the monsters continue to bang on the door. They continued to bang away for a little while, but eventually they gave up and went away.

"Phew! That was too close!" Kaylee panted to herself. "Who knew fiends like those fiends could actually keep up with me? Well, might as well check the damages."

Most of the fiends carried a weapon like a small dagger or claw, some, she was sure, had poisonous toxins within them. Being a wind mage, Kaylee was pretty fast and she could out run most of them. But they got in a few lucky shots. She had cuts on her arms and legs, some deep some not. She bandaged her wounds from the first aid kit she kept in her backpack and looked around to see exactly where she was.

The room was dark; the only light came from five dimly lit torches that were set up in a circle around a table and five chairs in between them. The table was round, made of dark red wood, and had a large, black stone in the middle of the table, half of which was within the table. The stone was about the size of a beach ball. Surrounding the stone were five smaller stones: a red one, an ocean blue one, a sky blue stone, an emerald green stone, and a dark violet stone. They were all placed inside an engraving ring surrounding the black stone. The five chairs were placed so that the person sitting in the chair would sit right in front of one of the smaller stones.

Kaylee cautiously circled the table, carefully running her fingertips across the golden ring, avoiding the stones. She stopped at the sky bluestone. Something inside told her to place her hand on it. When she did, a huge amount of energy flooded through her, but it wasn't painful, in fact, it mad her feel stronger.

Kaylee took her hand off the stone and placed it on the emerald green one. Instantly, she felt as though the earth around her was caving in on her.

"Oh god! Damn my claustrophobia," she panted weakly, quickly pulling her hand back. The pressure quickly went away.

'_Odd,'_ she thought as she placed her hand on the ocean blue stone. Soon she began to feel as though she was drowning. She started to gasp for air. She took her hand away from and she could suddenly breathe again.

"Weird," she said out loud as she hesitantly placed her hand on the red stone. Suddenly, her hand began to feel warm. Actually her whole body felt warm. It was fine at first, but then the heat increased and she kept feeling hotter and hotter until she felt like she was on fire! Kaylee jerked her hand off the stone and the flames subsided.

_'What is with these stones?'_ Kaylee thought to herself as she approached the dark violet orb. The stone gave off a strange aura, reminding her of Di's magic. Just before Kaylee put her hand over the stone, an idea flashed through her mind. _'Each stone has a different color and seems to have a different effect on me. Out of the four stones I've examined, one of them made me stronger and the other three were able to harm me. Maybe…'_ she thought as she took her hand away from the orb.

She looked deep into the stone. There, in the center, was a light upside-down triangle. The symbol of darkness. Kaylee then knew why is this stone's aura reminded her of Di. This was an elemental stone of darkness, the same element most of Di's magic carried in it.

Kaylee looked at all the stones again. It all made sense now! The reason she wasn't hurt when she touched the sky blue stone was because that stone represented her element, wind. An elemental stone is a stone made of the pure concentrated energy of a single element. They came in many different sizes, but these were the largest ones she had ever seen.

"Okay," Kaylee said to herself, mapping everything out for herself. "If the purple stone was darkness and the sky blue stone orb is wind, and then the dark blue stone had to be water, the green one had to be earth, and the red one must be fire. But then, what is this black stone?"

Kaylee tried to examine the stone further, but her instincts told her to stay away from it. She felt very uneasy about the stone. She looked into the center and saw what appeared to be a triple layered star symbol. Kaylee took a step back; the stone was giving off a powerful aura that seemed to pull anything close to it into the stone's power. She felt as though the stone was draining her of her energy.

Suddenly, Kaylee heard muffled voices in the hall, heading her way. Quickly, she ran and hid behind a curtain. The curtain was made with a type of material that she could somewhat see through with focus, but was able to keep her hidden.

A second later, the door opened and Hexor and three other people walked into the room. The people Hexor had brought with him wore long black cloaks that hid their faces. The ends of their sleeves were sky blue, red, or dark navy.

"Here we are," Hexor said calmly, leading them to the table.

"Excellent, the master will be expecting us to report in soon," the person with the red sleeves said coolly.

Kaylee could hear every word they were saying as she stood perfectly still in her hiding place. _'That sounds like a woman's voice,'_ she thought to herself.

"Shouldn't we wait until Demitri gets here to contact the master?" the person with the sky blue sleeves, another woman asked.

_'Demitri?!' _Kaylee worried. _'She doesn't mean our Di, does she? Don't tell me these freaks knew we were coming!'_

"Oh, I believe Demitri is here, somewhere within the castle. He will join us again before the night is over," Hexor said with an evil tone in his voice. "After all, I've got something that belongs to him, and he'll have to join us if he wants to see her again."

Kaylee scowled, _'That jerk! He does have Kiara locked up around here somewhere! Now I just have to find out where.'_

"So, where is the girl?" the person with the navy sleeves, a man this time, asked nonchalantly.

"Don't worry Emeri," Hexor said. "I'll have my servant, Zachary; bring her to the altar exactly five minutes before midnight. Meanwhile, you, Siaira, Leon, and I will go find Demitri, bring him here, and we will contact the master."

_'So," _Kaylee thought with a smile, _'Hexor, Emeri, Siaira, and Leon. Those are your names. I'll be sure to remember them.'_

Suddenly, there was a great commotion outside of the door. Kaylee inched to the end of the curtain to where she could see better. She got there just in time to see the door fly open and a fiend with red skin; wearing a dark purple tuxedo run in. he bowed before Hexor and the others.

"My lord," the fiend panted. "I'm afraid there have been reports of three intruders within the castle. Two spellcasters and a warrior."

Hexor just laughed. "Well, it's about time he showed up. And it sounds like he brought guests to our little reunion. Thank you, phantom. You may go and prepare the altar for the ceremony."

"Yes, my lord," the find said as he bowed again and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Hexor turned back to his colleagues. "Alright, change in plans. We need to find the other two intruders; we don't need any other distractions. Plus, we could always use them. If Demitri truly cares for his daughter; he will come to us on his own."

_'If this guy doesn't cool it, I'm going to deck him,' _Kaylee growled in her mind. _'Di would never abandon Kiara, unless he had no other choice!'_

Emeri snickered, "well you won't have to look very far for one of them."

"What do you mean, Emei?" Siaira asked.

Without saying a word, Emeri marched over to the curtain and threw it back, revealing a very stunned Kaylee. "Caught ya, wind witch!" she said with a cruel smirk as she grabbed Kaylee's upper arm.

"Hey!" Kaylee squealed as she was drug out of her hiding spot.

"Here's one of them," Emeri said coldly as she shoved Kaylee to the floor before the others.

"What should we do with her?" Leon asked, with minimum concern.

"Hmm, well, if she isn't with Demitri, then they must have split up to search for the girl. And it is always good to have a backup plan," Hexor said sarcastically, smirking at Kaylee, "just in case our old friend finds her."

Kaylee glared at the monster smirking back at her.

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I think this was one of the shortest chapters I've ever written. Sorry for not updating sooner, couldn't get time in with school :P If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to review and ask any questions you have 


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